Something was happening tonight, and it was connected somehow to the Ouija board. Brandon didn’t know how he knew that, but he was certain of it.

Maria needed his help.

The least he could do was wait up for her. If she was so freaked out she was keeping secrets even from Lily, she needed one person she could rely on. He texted Mateo to say he wasn’t coming back upstairs after all and went out onto the front steps.

It was still hot out, but the sunlight was fading. There was no sign of Delilah or Maria, but a dozen other seniors were outside, sitting on the steps with books open on their laps and phones in their hands, talking and texting while they feigned studying. They all waved at Brandon, but no one motioned for him to join them.

It didn’t matter. Brandon turned on his phone and clicked over to the book he was reading, The Talented Mr. Ripley.

He’d wait here at least until lights-out. Then he’d hide somewhere if he had to. Brandon didn’t want to think about how much trouble he’d get in if he got caught outside after curfew, but either way, this was more important.

Maria needed him.

6

THE ATTEMPT AND NOT THE DEED CONFOUNDS US

“Hola, guapa. ¿Qué hay?”

For the fourth time that night, Maria ignored the guys shouting at her from the back of the bar.

Delilah ignored them too and kept fiddling with her lip gloss case. She was just glad they weren’t shouting at her.

Maybe Spanish girls were used to that. Random sketchy-looking guys with tattoos and accents yelling at you wherever you went.

Delilah always got mixed up about where Maria was from. She knew her house was in northern Virginia, but she’d seen Maria’s parents every year when they came to drop her off at school, and they both looked a lot whiter than Maria did. She’d heard Maria was adopted, from Mexico or Brazil or one of those places, but Delilah had never asked her about that. Adopted kids could be funny about that stuff.

She was glad Maria had wanted to come out tonight, though. It felt like they’d lost touch since Delilah got made team captain this year. She wished Maria hadn’t taken that so hard. Delilah had thought about asking their coach, Jake, to make them co-captains again, but her dad said Princeton would take a captain over a co-captain any day of the week.

Tonight felt almost like old times, though. Maria had knocked on Delilah’s door after dinner and asked if she wanted to sneak off campus to Porter’s, the townie bar where you always felt like you’d picked up an STD just from sliding onto a barstool. No one minded, though, since they made their drinks with three parts gin, half a part tonic.